Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki (Post 35446)

Nothing wrong with the going after the "marketing for local business" niche.

However the last thing you want to do is be dependent on the local business to be the distributor of the marketing piece. Quite frankly they're too unreliable for it. Most of them aren't of the right mindset (not too mention quite often after they've provided a service for you, their hands & appearance is a mess) and they simply aren't the vehicle of distribution you would want.

The big problem I have with many of the "marketing for local business" ideas, including the whole 9x12 thing is that you're going to be putting in one heck of a lot of work for not a lot of return. And that amount of work is a detriment to scaling the thing up.

The other challenge is the low cost of the ads themselves. On any sort of postcard the ads can only be so big which limits the amount you can ask for in exchange for the space.

That's where the penny-saver folks or the Val-Pak folks have a big edge, they can be offering much larger (and more costly) ad space to folks like car-dealers who worth a mint in larger format marketing pieces but aren't a good target for postcard marketers.

Originally Posted by WillyWallace (Post 35448)

I agree 100%...thanks for your input.

I have started and stopped the 9x12 twice since 2012...netting over 5K(2 9x12s and 2 with only 6 ads) with no overhead, no start up costs, and no ongoing costs...working part-time from home...all prospecting done using email and over the phone when requested. Sounds like a dream business, other than the fact that it's hard as heck to scale it up, and when you don't get immediate results- businesses back out of re-upping.

Getting back to your comments about relying on the business to leave behind the card...agreed- not a very smart way to build a business.

Bottom line is that I always fall back on wanting to help local businesses to find new customers. I seem to be able to relate to those guys, even though I have never been in their shoes.

IF I lost my job and needed to feed my family...could I dive in and grow the co op mailer 6 ad business? Absolutely. But dabbling in it on the side makes it too easy to stop, and think about other ways to find new customers.

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki (Post 35449)

You've got a good head on your shoulders Willy. :)